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About Virginia Tech University:
At Virginia Tech, Remembering While Moving On - Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college named Virginia
Agricultural and Mechanical College, Virginia Tech is now a comprehensive, innovative research university with the largest
full-time student population in Virginia. Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education,
preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution,
Virginia Tech offers 215 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 30,000 students and manages a research portfolio of nearly $400 million.
The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth
and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
From Gobbler to HokieBird
The origin of the term "Gobblers" is disputed, with one story claiming it was coined in the early 1900s as a
description of how student athletes would "gobble" up their more than ample servings of food. Another story attributes it to the fact
that the 1909 football coach, Branch Bocock, wanted to stimulate better spirit amongst his players and initiated them into an impromptu and informal
"Gobbler Club. The costume worn by today's HokieBird made its first appearance in 1987. HokieBird has won national mascot competitions
and has been so popular that the mascot landed an appearance on Animal Planet's "Turkey Secrets
WHAT'S A HOKIE?
The HokieBird, The bird is a "HokieBird" which has evolved from a turkey. Virginia Tech teams were once called
the "gobblers"! The answer leads all the way back to 1896 when Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College changed its name to
Virginia Polytechnic Institute. With the change came the necessity for writing a new cheer and a contest for such a purpose was
held by the student body.
Senior O.M. Stull won first prize for his "Hokie" yell (Old Hokie Cheer below) which is still used today. Later, when asked if "Hokie" had any special meaning, Stull explained the word was solely the product of his
imagination and was used only as an attention-getter for his yell. It soon became a nickname for all Tech
teams and for those people loyal to Tech athletics.
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